Beyond - A short story
by Sevoris
Summary: Inspired by glimpses of the visions of what Anthem might have become once - a captured moment of the night before a new Ranger goes beyond the walls.


_Inspired by the glimpses of visions of what Anthem could once have been._

* * *

"I thought I might find you up here."

The night sky is crystal clear; few clouds drift across the deep black firmament for once. The air is cool by normal standards, the humidity oppressive to some - second-nature to the two humans on the roof.

One is sitting at the edge, looking westward, head angled back: watching the starry sky with the natural confidence of a city-borne in the face of steep falls.

The other is walking from the access point, door fallen into its lock and frame, closing the distance to the edge: head turning discerning, looking for the other's interest in the sky.

"Commander Xao," the arrival was acknowledged. "...I thought you might know I'd be up here."

A smile. "Every recruit I've ever known - including myself - had insomnia before their first mission. And you're not my first-"

"Sylvenia."

"Indeed."

One looks up to the other, shine of two moons and a galactic arm playing across dark skin and buzz-cut hair. The other looks down: the same buzz-cut, a slightly different skin tone, cat eyes glowing a light orange. For a moment, they make eye contact. Then one pair of eyes snaps back to the sky, head turning to the west at 41 degrees Magnetic, 36 degrees azimuth.

"My parents…" they trail off, then begin again: "Yesterday after the celebratory meal, we… my parents, we talked. About The Event, the First Expedition. The Second… and what happened."

Xao nods, and looks towards that point in the sky himself.

They'll be trying about now to get the calls through over on Apicius, while listening for that wistful spike of signals from Elsewhere.

From Home.

Not that the young man at Xao's feet can do much with that sentence. For them, "home" had always been here, on this city, on this plate, on this… planet.

For Xao… some of the velcro patches suddenly seem hot as iron, poised to burn through uniform, undersuit and skin.

"Do you think you…" the question trails off just after it has ripped Xao from his thoughts. "you know, think you'll go back?"

"So you think it is your time to ask that burning question now? Prudence or youthful recklessness?"

"The later," his conversation partner decides with the same and a smile of white teeth.

"My old home is something I knew I gave up when I joined Expedition 8," Xao voices his last introspective thought.

"So-"

"_Prudent scope._"

"Yes Commander."

The risks had been well known to him. No, not risk. Stakes. Few things escaped Tantalus' grasp. Spacecraft least of all.

Instinctively he looks up, looking for shooting stars: finds a group close to the horizon. Crashdown… probably 200 kilometers away. Not his case unless _something_ happens.

_Something_ happens. He makes a note on his Overlays, with twitches of eyes, fingers and throat - then returns to his thoughts.

No, everyone joining Expedition 8 had decided by their own will to follow 1 unfortunate and 6 just as brave others to Tantalus.

To a place thrice the diameter of Old Earth, with twin moons, through a hole in space-time they understood in effect but not in cause, and an inexplicable, inescapable grasp.

Doom of Iris, post-mortem "Expedition 1."

Attractor of many _other_ _things_ that had attracted Expedition 2, 3 and others besides them then again.

"What do you expect?" Xao asked.

"...I dunno? It's on my mind, but… mostly I'm just thinking that it is _there_. And Earth, and Terra Nova. Places where I'll probably never go. Where cities are without boundary walls and the worst you have to worry about is a hurricane bringing winds and lots of water."

_Not monsters and freak electrical storms and things our old culture didn't even have names for._

"If we can ever disable the Well… we are a long way off from that. I like to think about more imminent things. Such as the terrain of tomorrow's expedition, so that I don't loose anybody."

_To Tavi, Seychad or another anomaly of this strange place. _

"Like me."

"Like you," Xao confirmed.

They look at the stars again: the band of the galaxy, drawing itself across the sky; and the bright fleck of another galaxy far, far away.

"Come, try to get some sleep now, hmmm?"

"Yeah, probably a good idea." The young Ranger jumps up onto the roof proper with a casualness that makes Xao wince. "I'm looking forward to going beyond tomorrow." His soul is at rest now.

Xao smiles, and follows them, throwing a glance at his patches, remembering earlier times.

Two patches on his arm. White-on-blue: United Nations Emergency Space Expeditionary Command. And Golden and Red on black and brown: Operations Command Tarsis - Ranger Force.

His past, his present, their future.

Their service to a people beyond the walls of the cities, in a strange alien world that won't let go with its iron, reality-warping grip.

_Fortes fortuna adiuvat. _

* * *

**A/N: **_Beyond_ is the result of a day of fermentation following the revalations of _Anthem_'s more than just troubled development, and a vision of then-"Dylan" outlinned therein: A "more NASA than Iron Man" exo-suited battle for survival on an mysterious alien world, a bermuda triangle that sweeps alien ships and mysteries onto its surface, creating a lethal enviroment where even these suited humans struggle to survive for long periods of time, while fighting their way from safety to mysteries and back, trying to understand their enviroment.

Would it ever have been such a game? Probably not. Even if the studio managment had been far, far more competent; if visions had been set; if Frostbite wasn't a razor shard-filled cake of pain and shoody hacking in place of good engine design for (online) RPGs - I am realistic enough to realize that the proposed scope and scale of such a world would be nigh-impossible to implement, especially in a density that motivates and encourages play - and can hold a good story-driven campaign besides.

But the story implifications wouldn't let go of my brain. So here is _Beyond_, the result of a return trip from University spent on the phone, typing away. I hope you enjoyed it! :)


End file.
